Bill Benson is a former revenue collector for the State of Illinois. Back in 1984, Benson was commissioned to conduct an investigation into the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Benson traveled to all 48 states which had been admitted to the Union at the time of the ratification of this amendment in 1913. He spent close to a year in the bowels of these state archives collecting official documents.

What Benson found according to legal researchers was nothing short of a bombshell: Not only was the Sixteenth Amendment - the so-called "income tax amendment' never ratified by the required number of states, he also discovered that the Seventeenth Amendment wasn't ratified either.

The Seventeenth Amendment allows for U.S. Senators to be elected by the citizens of the states. Prior to this amendment, U.S. Senators were appointed by each state legislature.

Benson published a two part volume on the Sixteenth Amendment, 'The Law That Never Was'. He also published another work titled, 'Proof the Seventeenth Amendment was Never Ratified'. Over the past twenty years as a result of Benson's battle to expose the alleged fraud which occurred on these two amendments, Benson has refused to voluntarily file or pay income taxes. While he did spend time in prison, his fiercely fought battles against the government are legendary.

NWVs has now learned that the federal government has once again gone after Benson to, in his own words, "Shut down the truth from the American people." The government has filed an injunction seeking to force Benson to cease and desist from selling his reliance defense package on income taxes, post a statement on his web site announcing the government's injunction and demanding the names of anyone Benson has sold his reliance defense package to relating the Sixteenth Amendment.

According to Benson in a telephone interview, "The government is calling my documents a theory! Can you imagine that? I have 17,000 documents that we call court certified and the government refers to them as a theory!"

Benson indeed has the 17,000 hard documents he maintains prove his allegations that both the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments were never ratified. His legal team in Milwaukee, the Law Offices of Robert G. Bernhoft, S.C., have now filed a Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction and for Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can be Granted.

One of the most intriguing parts of this filing is that Benson's counsel, Jeffrey A. Dickstein, appears to be turning the table on the government and putting them in a position where in order to prvail, the government must prove the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified - something Benson steadfastly claims they cannot do and states he has the documents to prove it. According to Benson's latest filing:

"As previously discussed, the United States can not prevail as a matter of law unless it can prove Benson “made or caused to be made false or fraudulent statements concerning the tax benefits to be derived from the entity, plan or arrangement” and that “he knew or had reason to know the statements were false or fraudulent.” This requires the United States to prove the Sixteenth Amendment was properly ratified, because if it were not properly ratified, Benson’s statements would not be false or fraudulent, they would be true, and the United States’ action would fail."

On June 21, 2001, Phil Hart, who is now a member of the Idaho State Legislature, filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court on this very issue. The court refused to hear his case.

The government has maintained for decades that the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, it is the legal basis for the income tax and call any arguments to the contrary "frivolous_________________"The police are not here to create disorder.
The police are here to preserve disorder." Mayor Richard Daley